On June 14, Stand Up for Principals—Participate in the Title II Day of Action!

Educators need the ability to better themselves in order to drive student achievement. Title II of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers educators this opportunity by providing federal funds to recruit, retain, and train high-quality educators. ESSA originally authorized Title II funds at $2.295 billion, a number that would make a positive impact for schools across the nation. However, Title II saw a drastic $249 million reduction for FY 2017. Despite these already harmful cuts, President Trump has proposed to completely eliminate funding for Title II in his FY 2018 budget request. This is dangerously shortsighted and would severely disrupt many states’ ESSA implementation plans, hampering efforts to increase student achievement.

In order to help protect these funds, NASSP has partnered with a number of other organizations to hold the first-ever Title II Day of Action this week on Wednesday, June 14. If you wish to sign up early to participate, please join our Thunderclap, which will allow you to preplan social media posts for the day of action. NASSP will also be sending out a new action alert that day, meaning with just a few clicks, you can contact your congressional representatives. Please join NASSP in protecting these funds on June 14—Urge your members of Congress to fund Title II at the ESSA-authorized level of $2.295 billion for FY 2018!

As a principal, you encounter obstacles that many elected officials can’t imagine, which is why it’s important that you share your experiences with these representatives so they understand the support necessary to be successful in such a difficult occupation. At this year’s National Principals Conference, you can learn how to effectively craft your story in a way that is quick and impactful for your elected representatives. There will also be a number of other sessions that can help your advocacy efforts, with topics including influencing your state’s ESSA plan, how the federal education landscape has changed with President Trump and Secretary DeVos, and how to maximize your influence on legislators at all levels of government.

Don’t miss your opportunity to learn how you can make a difference for your state and school. The 2017 National Principals Conference takes place July 9–11 in Philadelphia, PA Time is running out, so register for the conference now!

DeVos once again defended a budget that would cut $7.9 billion from the Department of Education (ED) for FY 2018. This includes cuts for programs that can greatly benefit principals, like Title IIA, that were mentioned above. While the House hearing seemed to show that more Republicans are somewhat understanding of the President’s budget, the same cannot be said in the Senate. Chairman Blunt (R-MO) even commented in his opening statement that the cuts proposed by Trump’s budget were untenable. Democrats and Republicans on both sides questioned cuts to many different programs, suggesting that Trump’s budget most likely has very little support in the Senate. While this is encouraging, many of NASSP’s most important programs received large cuts in the FY 2017 omnibus and could face cuts again as Congress continues to draft an FY 2018 budget. That is why it is still extremely important that you contact your elected officials to let them know that you support programs like Title II.

One of the key components of ESSA was providing new and flexible ways to spend federal education dollars. A new report closely examines how Title I, Part A funds in ESSA can be used to help states and districts find new ways and funding avenues to support the arts.

As we near the final submission date for ESSA plans, many states have begun to take the next step forward. This summer, 17 state education departments will hold training sessions for district administrators and teachers to help them better understand their states’ new accountability plan under ESSA. This article provides a more detailed explanation on how some of the training will be conducted in North Dakota, Louisiana, and New Mexico.

NCTQ analyzed a number of ESSA plans to study how states are ensuring that low-income and minority students are taught by effective and experienced teachers. They then released a report to highlight some states’ best practices to show how they’re solving this ongoing problem.